This
brief article is written to give a
clear understanding about the subject of divine healing in Scripture
and
as a guide for pastoral involvement with people, who are ill, but
earnestly
hope- and strive to have faith for an healing miracle of God.

This
article does not claim to deal
with
all the aspects of the subject of divine healing. I realize that there
are many questions left unanswered, especially those of them, who need
a divine touch of healing, have waited for so long and prayed so
earnestly
for it, but heaven remains silent and the Spirit of God has not given
the
desired touch.

Perhaps
reading this article may make
an
opening in your heart for the Spirit of God to give you the necessary
touch.
One thing you may be sure of: The Lord is still in business of healing
people, saying all the time: "Be healed." Who knows, that word and that
touch may just be 'around the corner.' That would be truly wonderful.

T. J. de
Ruiter

Healing
of the sick is the work of God

Right at
the beginning of this brief
article
of biblical teaching about Divine Healing I would like to make a
statement
and it is this: That the sick may always pray and continue to have hope
for a healing touch of God, unless God told them explicitly that He,
for
some wise, sovereign purpose, is not going to heal them.

That man
may hope and have faith for a
healing touch of God is encouraged by the revelation of God and
teachings
in Scripture: He is an healing Lord and Saviour. Exodus 15:26, "I am
the
LORD, that healeth thee." Jesus healed the sick and freed the demon
possessed
and of these works He said that they were the works of His Father in
heaven.
In the commission to preach the Gospel Jesus included the command to
heal
the sick; Marc 16:18. In the previous verse Jesus said that healing of
the sick would be a sign that followed message of the Gospel, to
emphasize
its divine authority. The apostles recognised that divine healing was
functioning
in the churches and wrote about it.

Gifts
of healings; 1 Corinthians 12:9

How can
we receive an healing touch
from
the Lord? Like all blessings from above healing is received by faith in
the goodness, faithfulness, power and the will of God.

The
apostle Paul teaches that the Lord
invests healing power in the Church and that He distributes gifts of
healing
amongst its members; please read 1 Corinthians 12:9.

It is
commonly understood that the
apostle
wrote here about the gift of healing. I like to point out that there is
a second exegesis of 1 Corinthians 12:9. A reading of the Greek text
shows
the plural forms of the nouns in this verse. Paul wrote literally
'gifts
of healings.' I am amongst the teachers, that draw from the plural
forms
'gifts' and 'healings' the conclusion that the healing itself is a
special
gift of God, the Holy Spirit. If this interpretation from the Greek is
correct, each healing can be seen as a gift from the Spirit of Christ.
The examination of this verse seems to make it impossible to use this
verse
for the teaching that certain believers received a special gift to
heal.
It could be argued however that the Spirit administers gifts of
healings
through those, whom He has anointed for this ministry. Each healing is
not only a gift to an individual, but also to the whole body of Christ.
Please read also verse 11 in this chapter, which makes clear that the
Holy
Spirit gives the gifts (also that of an healing) to whom He wills.

Healing
through the prayer of faith; James 5:15

The
apostle James assured, giving
directions
for prayer for the sick in the church, that the prayer of faith, prayed
by an elder of the church, will heal the sick; please read James
5:13-18.
The prayer of faith might well be prayed by someone, who possesses the
gift of faith; read 1 Corinthians 12:9. An elder was and is a mature,
wise,
pure, Spirit filled and responsible leader of the church. We might draw
the conclusion that James treats illness of a believer as a serious
matter,
that not only concerns the individual believer but the whole church;
please
read also 1 Corinthians 12:26. James mentions that sins must be
confessed
to one another. In doing so not only hindrances between believers are
cleared,
but also - and this is most important - every hindrance for God to let
His healing power flow. James mentions further: Anointing with oil, an
act that strengthens faith and praying for one another, so expressing
humility
and true love for one another in the church, recognizing Gods sovereign
presence and will. It is interesting to know that certain oils were
used
as medicine in those days. James also draws attention to the truth that
not just our prayers work healing, but God does, for He gives power and
effectiveness to our prayers. If you are ill and suffering and you are
a member of a church, why not call for your pastor and elders and ask
them
to be obedient to this advice of the apostle James?

Claiming
healing on the grounds of the atonement of Christ?

A
thorough study of relevant Scriptures
seems to indicate that it is not in harmony with the New Testament to
teach
that the believer shall surely receive physical healing by exercising
faith
in Christ and His atonement as he received forgiveness of sins and a
right
standing before God. If it were true that every believer has a right to
receive healing in this present life as the result of the atonement and
that it is just a matter of claiming what is one's right, then, surely,
there would be hardly any sickness amongst believers. Scriptures as
Isaiah
53:6 and 1 Peter 2:24 will give a more profound meaning when examined
in
broader context of the truths of the Gospel. The reader will understand
that it goes too far now to study at some length all the necessary
Scriptures
to support this view.

May it
suffice here to say that
Christians
received the Holy Spirit and He is the warrant of the coming full
salvation
and renewal; Romans 8:23; Ephesians 1:13. In the gift of the Holy
Spirit
is His full potential of energies present, that's why miraculous powers
operate amongst believers. As written above, it is the Spirit that
gives
the gifts to the individual believer in the church and one of His gifts
is healing; 1 Corinthian 12:9;11. This being accepted as true we can
conclude
that a divine healing is rather a work of the Spirit, as a special
gift,
than a more or less automatic result of the exercise of faith in the
atonement
of Christ. But let it be clear that each divine healing must be
received
and welcomed as a result of the atonement. Christians will receive the
full and eternal healing of their body when they are changed into
immortality
at the return of Christ for then is the work of their salvation
complete.

The
'methodical steps of faith' teaching

I now
regard it my responsibility to
issue
a serious warning against the so called 'Faith Steps toward your
miracle
healing from God' theology, as a sure working method to receive the
desired
healing miracle. The number of steps vary from 3 to 7 or even more,
dependant
upon the particular teaching. Such teaching gives usually - if not
always
- the assurance that if the steps are taken, the sick will receive (!)
the desired miracle.

Such a
teaching about a systematic,
methodical
approach is however not endorsed by the Holy Scriptures, though those,
who teach this kind of 'faith steps' theology do often try to support
the
methodical steps with Scripture verses. But they are often quoted
without
taking their context in consideration or without due respect for sound
and responsible exposition of their meaning.

Please
notice that Jesus and his
apostles
did not teach logical- or methodological steps to receive a miracle
from
God. In the Gospels we learn that miracles sometimes happened in answer
to faith, but they happened also totally unexpected and even unasked
for
- even by the sick himself. Added to this let us be clear about it:
Jesus
is not anymore amongst us, and therefore there is no physical presence
of God amongst us. The consequence of his absence is that coming to Him
- also for healing - is entirely a spiritual encounter. This spiritual
dimension has realities that are incomprehensible for us, for the
spiritual
has many aspects that are far above our consciousness and
understanding.
The word of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now we know in part," is also
true here.

I want
to emphasize that a miracle is
per
definition a phenomenon that cannot be produced by human calculations
or
logical systems of thinking or imagination and neither can it be
explained
with rational understanding. A divine healing miracle falls in the
category
of unexplainable phenonema, as a benign working of the supernatural
God,
produced by His power. There is no way, in which we can assure one
another
that a miracle will take place if we obey certain conditions or
take the so called 'faith steps.' This having said, it remains true
that
God, the Holy Spirit, will often work a miracle in answer to prayer, a
proclamation of faith or an authoritative command in Jesus' Name.
However,
God is sovereign, He does not ask anyone permission for what He does or
does not do, and omniscient (all-knowing) and therefore knows all
aspects
of human life. It is wise and truly godly to let everything rest in His
hands. Only in humble submission will the soul of man find the
necessary
peace and rest.

Research
about the success of this
'faith
steps' teaching shows that the vast majority of sick do not receive
divine
healing. It is sincerely to be regretted and truly saddening, that so
many
sick develop serious spiritual and emotional problems - apart from
their
physical pain - through fanatical and unbalanced preaching about faith
in relation to healing. Not a few develop also serious guilt problems,
as a result of the idea that they remain sick as a result of failing to
have faith in God. There is much evidence that there is a great number
of heavily frustrated sick believers, who visited with great
expectations
healing meetings with high hopes and real faith - without receiving
healing.
Preachers of divine healing will usually take no responsibility for
those,
who are not healed. Such people are desperately in need of loving,
sympathetic
and scriptural pastoral care, but many healing preachers rather avoid
contact
with such frustrated believers.

Attitude
towards medical treatment

Having
hope and faith for divine
healing,
does not release the sick - and those around the sick person - from the
moral duty to make use of good medical treatment and the necessary
medical
and loving care - I really want to stress this point.

Applied
to believers this means that
they
should not reject medical treatment in principle. Even if there is a
strong
expectation of a miracle they should not postpone medical aid
unnecessary.
I know that some Christians are against any medical help, but this has
not seldom caused damage to the testimony of Christ - as many have
sadly
experienced.

We have
a recent example of the value
of
the above teaching. On Saturday, 22 September 2001, our daughter
Deborah
became suddenly ill. We consulted her physician and he sent her with
urgency
to the hospital. After the necessary hospital procedures with hours
delay,
while having severe pains - it was weekendservice in the hospital - she
was diagnosed as having an acute appendicitis and immediately operated
succesfully. Three weeks later she was almost completely recovered. We
gave thanks to God for the medical skill of the surgeon and the good
care
of the nurses.

That
Saturday morning, when she gave
her
first phone call, we did pray for Gods miraculous intervention, but
realised
that we needed to take the necessary steps. It was quite frightening as
the pain came so sudden and the waiting was so long in the hospital. We
have not regretted our urgent steps toward medical help as we realized,
after the diagnosis was made, that appendicitis can have serious, even
fatal complications.

Recapitulation:
Receiving healing from God

For the
Christian: Believe the Word of
God and honour Christ as your Lord. Clean your heart, confess your sins
and receive forgiveness, based on the atonement of Christ on the cross.
In case personal prayer does not give the desired result, call your
pastor
and leaders as James 5 instructs the believers. Let there not just be a
fast ritual anointing, but take time together to read the Word, pray
and
get sure that you are right with God and one another. Let the Spirit
work,
maybe He reveals a secret hindrance for Him to move, e.g. an evil,
occult,
spiritual power, a curse or power of magic, that must broken. The
Spirit
may give a prophetic word, that will give a hopeful insight or a
powerful
faith for healing.

Please
do not forget: God may heal,
letting
the natural healings powers of the bodily and mental systems work. He
may
also heal through good medical treatment or help. And He can work
miraculously,
in a completely unusual way, far above any understanding and on a
moment
that you expect it not. Healings occur in private time, in regular
churchservices,
in evangelistic meetings or in a conference. How true is the line of a
wellknown hymn, also in the case of healing: "God moves in a mysterious
way His wonders to perform."

And, if
after all is done, there is
still
no healing, leave all in the hands of the Sovereign God and your
Saviour
Jesus Christ, committing your body, soul and spirit to Him. We know in
part, but He knows all things perfectly.

In
Closing

In
closing I point out that wonderful,
miraculous divine healings are also signs of the powers of the coming
age,
when God will free his people completely from all sickness and pain.
There
is surely coming a time, commencing at the return of the Lord, when
there
will be no sickness and death anymore. Then the full blessings of the
atonement,
inclusive physical and mental healing, will come into effect.

All
creation, and certainly God's
children,
who taste now and then, or perhaps frequently, of those wonderful
divine
powers look forward to this wonderful age of God's Kingdom on earth.
The
present believers will be changed into immortality in the twinkling of
an eye. And the divine, powerful ministry of the reigning Christ will
bring
perfect healing for all as the powers of evil, that bring sickness will
be bound. This hope will give strength to the believer - even in the
moment
when the end of this present mortal life is arriving.

And if
you, dear reader, are sick and
suffering,
why not pray, maybe again, to the Lord, and ask for His compassionate
healing
touch. Who knows, perhaps this time a surprising re+action from heaven
will
give you that desired move of His Spirit. "Lord, we will give you all
the
glory for it. Amen."